Lieu at the Kovacs-Frey Pharmacy, Feb 28

Kovacs-Frey Pharmacy:
Redondo Beach, CA

Odette Leonelli, the head  Pharmacist of Kovacs-Frey Pharmacy, hosted State Senator Ted Lieu at her pharmacy last Friday.

Mark Tilford of Redondo Beach had sent out a flyer informing everyone in the are that State Senator Lieu would be in the area.

I wanted to make sure that I got there, so that I could confront him about State Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood), a legislator who has been convicted of eight felony counts, including voter fraud and perjury.

I got to the pharmacy a few minutes early, just in time to see the pharmacist, Ms. Leonelli.

Then Sen. Lieu showed up. He just waved at me, then entered the pharmacy.

I tried to take a few pictures of the state senator with some of the staff, but sometimes Ms. Leonelli tried to block my view.

I understand that she was uncomfortable, and wanted to make a good impression, but every constituent has the right to meet and greet and confront his or her legislator regarding key issues.

She had welcomed many of her patients to meet with the state senator, too. To the back corner of the store, she provided a few chairs and some pastries. A man with a camera began taking pictures. Then more people showed up.

Ms. Leonelli started talking about all the costs she was incurring because of a group of pharmacy benefit managers, like intermediaries, otherwise called PBMs, I mentioned right away the potential problems caused by Obamacare.

Right away, Ms. L cut me off:

"We are not here to discuss the Affordable Care Act."

I find it fascinating that individuals want to discuss bringing in more red tape and regulations instead of finding ways to get the government out of health care. The more government intervention which our legislators and voters permit into any system, the more compelled our legislators will be to bring in more government.

She was vehement that I did not bring up anything controversial, it seems.

Still,; the more that she described all the rules and red tape that she had to deal with in order to serve her customers, the more I felt for her plight. Now more than ever, individual medical professionals face greater pains to provide a direct and warm service to local customers. A letter in the Daily Breeze lamented the closing local pharmacies in the region, including a  historical fixture in San Pedro area was closing after 125 years!

Along with Sen. Lieu, the pharmacist  also had a lawyer, an elderly gentleman from a law firm in San Anselmo.

I was kind of surprised that that an attorney from the Bay Area was speaking with a pharmacist and her customers here in Redondo Beach.

As I was questioning Senator Lieu, Dr. Leonelli interrupted me a second time, rebutting:

"We are not here to discuss politics".

"Leonelli didn't want to talk politics
with me, a politician. . ."

Then I countered:

"But we are. You have here State Senator Lieu. . ."

She quickly changed the subject again.

The discussion at length spoke about the gouging practices of pharmacy benefit managers. I asked the lawyer and also Sen. Lieu to share what they would do to stop the gouging which the pharmacies face.

Leonelli, Sen. Lieu, and the attorney were all dead-set on the notion that more rules and regulations would stop the pricing out of local pharmacies.

Many people in the store spoke very highly of Dr. Leonelli, that she provided excellent customer service, that she would take the time and trouble to contact individual doctors and make sure that her patients were getting the best care.

Yet because she does not have the time or money to work with the insurance companies directly to get the proper funding for her patients and the medications, she and all other individual pharmacies must work through the PBMs, and these firms receive the monies from the insurance companies, yet reimburse the pharmacies pennies on the dollar for the medications which they provide.

Leonelli is going broke providing for her customers, and she gets only one-third, at most, reimbursed for the costs of providing her customers the drugs that they need.

I really feel for her. I do not believe, though, that more regulations are going to do any good. I tried to make this point a number of times, but I was interrupted by either Ms. L, or one of the customers, who was dead set on more regulations.

The attorney present at the Pharmacy, Lynn Carman, made frequent allusions between the PBMs and the Pacific Railroad in California during the late 1800s.

Currently, there are six PBMs operating in California, and I have read about the slow demise of independent Pharmacies. Yet just as the Pacific Railroad lost its monopoly hold over the transportation system in California, so to these PBMs can lose the supposed stronghold on independent pharmacies.

I also asked the lawyer and then the state senator if any medical professionals had shared their views on the subject. They did not know. I certainly was not thrilled with the idea that Senator Lieu would sit down with a group of lawyers to come up with legislation.

At the end of the presentation, I pressed state senator Lieu about Roderick Wright:

"Lieu voted to move a resolution to expel me?
Uh Oh!"

"Senator Lieu, there is a convicted felon in the state senate, Roderick Wright, and your silence on this is unacceptable."

All while I was trying to address the state senator in front of everyone in the Pharmacy, Ms. Leonelli tried to interrupt me by handing my some pastries (I had taken a few already).

She then told me that I had no right to be discussing such issues in her pharmacy.

I reminded her that I have a first Amendment right to speak to my state senator.

Lieu then shared with me that he voted with the Republicans to expel Wright.

I was actually very glad to hear this.

I then shook his hand, then pressed him to get other Democrats to vote the same way.

Later on, I spoke with the state senator outside of the pharmacy, and I pressed him on Ron Calderon, and the state senator told me that Calderon would announce on Monday (3-3-2014) what he was going to do.

It was an interesting evening, to say the least. I am beginning to believe that if individual voters work together and pressure their state senators, like Lieu, we will start seeing them make the right decisions and cast the right votes. I am also aware, though, that state senator Lieu is running for Congress, and would very much like for the issue regarding his silence on Wright to be silenced as a campaign issue.